A nation in turmoil chooses a new president who represents a significant first. No, it's not a black man named Obama, it's a woman... and her name is Allison Taylor. The U.S. has just inaugurated its first-ever woman president, on the TV show "24," and for a make-believe president, you can't do any better than Cherry Jones, the veteran actress who plays Taylor.

Cherry Jones has gotten much acclaim for her work on Broadway, most notably "Doubt" (now a movie with Meryl Streep), "Angels in America," the 2000 revival of "A Moon for the Misbegotten," and "The Heiress" (based on the movie of the same name, which was itself based on the Henry James novel "Washington Square").

Cherry Jones has been in a number of movies in the last decade or so, mostly small roles. You might have seen her in the indie film "Cradle Will Rock" as well as "The Perfect Storm," "The Horse Whisperer," "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," two M. Night Shyamalan films ("Signs" and "The Village"),"The Horse Whisperer," "Erin Brockovich," and even "Ocean's Twelve."

In an interview in New York magazine Jones says she likes playing the role of President Taylor, whom she describes as "a combination of Eleanor Roosevelt, Golda Meier, and John Wayne."

No matter what troubles Allison Taylor encounters as president, we can be sure that Cherry Jones will be able to act her way out of it.